The current study demonstrates the capacity for national drug policy reform to influence drug use risk by facilitating or impeding health service engagement among individuals who use illicit substances. We suggest national drug policy requires careful consideration of both prevention goals and the needs of individuals already engaged in illicit substance use; more liberal drug policies may actually encourage the adoption of harm reduction strategies such as health service engagement.
Introduction and Aims
The illicit manufacture of methamphetamine in clandestine laboratories is associated with significant risks to the community and environment. Currently little is known about clandestine laboratories or the individual ‘cooks’ who operate them; current research directly engaging with cooks is limited to three qualitative studies with small samples (n < 24) of cooks based in the USA. This descriptive brief report starts to address this knowledge gap by exploring characteristics of an international sample of self‐identified methamphetamine cooks.
Design and Methods
Using data from the 2017 and 2018 Global Drug Surveys, we identified 125 individuals from 24 countries who reported past manufacture of methamphetamine. We explored respondents' socio‐demographic characteristics and patterns of methamphetamine production using descriptive statistics.
Results
The majority of methamphetamine cooks were male (82%) and Caucasian (70%) and, contrary to previous studies, 43% were employed and 51% had at least a high school certificate. Cooks most commonly sourced precursors from pharmacies (50%), followed by friends (24%). Almost half of the cooks (47%) produced methamphetamine exclusively for self‐consumption.
Discussion and Conclusions
The heterogeneous nature of the sample and varying precursor sources reflect the limitations of existing regulations aimed at limiting methamphetamine production. These findings point to the need for innovative and multi‐faceted efforts aimed at reducing and preventing the harms associated with methamphetamine manufacture.
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